When last you heard from these intrepid travelers we were sitting pretty in a Vancouver hotel awaiting our flights to Madrid. We arose before the crack of dawn to catch the shuttle to the airport and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise along the way.  Zipped through things at the airport and found ourselves waiting for our flight to Toronto with a group of 60 young soccer players and their parents from the Seattle area heading to an international tournament in Madrid. Boisterous, and that wasn’t just the kids. Had plane delays in Toronto but luckily gave ourselves plenty of wiggle room as we planned things. I had an inkling things wouldn’t be any less noisy with the number of teenagers getting on board and that proved true – I’ve never been on a trans oceanic flight where folks didn’t settle into a quiet rest. Such chitter chatter! No sleep for us. 

But it was a breeze getting thru the Madrid airport and onto the metro over to the bus station. After some confusion we finally deduced where to catch our bus to Oviedo, where we’ll start our hike. It was a beautiful ride through farmlands and rolling hills and then into the mountains. Lost track of how many tunnels we went through. Alighted from the bus in a drizzle and opted for a cab ride over to the pilgrim Alberge (hostel), where I got my first stamp!

We’re settling in for an early night as we’re definitely short on sleep. Raring to go armed with local info from the kind hostel operator.